Controversy over Delhi High Court Senior designation as Permanent Committee member resigns

The recent designation of 70 lawyers as Senior Advocates by the Delhi High Court is now mired in controversy with one of the members of the Permanent Committee resigning over claims that the final list was prepared without his consent..The Permanent Committee includes Chief Justice Manmohan, Justice Vibhu Bakhru, Justice Yashwant Varma, Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, and Senior Advocates Mohit Mathur and Sudhir Nandrajog.Sources reveal that Nandrajog, also a representative of Delhi government, did not sign on the final list which was circulated to the full court for deliberation, as he was busy in an arbitration for two days. It is also claimed that it is not the list that was decided upon and that the original list has been tampered with..Speaking to Bar & Bench, Nandrajoig said, "My only grievance is on the non-following of the procedure/rules. I have absolutely no comments on the list or any individual."."My only grievance is on the non following of the procedure/rules. I have absolutely no comments on the list or any individual."Sudhir Nandrajog.As reported earlier, the Full Court of the Delhi High Court on November 29 designated 70 lawyers as Senior Advocates. However, the official notification is yet to come out. The Delhi High Court had interviewed 302 lawyers for the purpose.Bar & Bench reached out to the judges of the Permanent Committee to understand what transpired during the process. In an official statement, one of the judges said that Nandrajog was not excluded from the meetings and was part of the deliberations throughout. Only the last meeting was held without Nandrajog as he had prior engagements.The judge explained that the emergency meeting was called on November 28 (originally scheduled for December 2) in light of the news that the Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the elevation of Delhi High Court Chief Justice Manmohan to the top court. He added that one of the members of the Committee reached out to Nandrajog who was busy in an arbitration matter.It is understood that the Permanent Committee did not want to roll back the whole evaluation procedure. The judge confirmed that the Committee deliberated and finalised the evaluations of candidates as it could not defer the process with Chief Justice Manmohan’s elevation to the apex court expected soon..The judge further confirmed that the five members of the Permanent Committee (minus Nandrajog) had signed on the recommended list of lawyers to be designated and presented the report before the Full Court.The Full Court accepted the report signed by the five members and then deliberated on the list of 71 lawyers recommended for designation. It ultimately decided to designate 70 lawyers, confirmed the judge..The official notification is expected to come out tonight or tomorrow morning.